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07/17/2020 · 6 min read
Most agency problems start with the owner, not the market or the team. Audit your own patterns, communication gaps, enforced standards, and what you have been tolerating. The leader who goes first on self-reflection unlocks every other change.
07/15/2020 · 6 min read
AI is already reshaping underwriting, claims, and customer-facing comparison tools at the carrier level. Build AI literacy now, automate the work that does not require your judgment, and double down on relationships, expertise, and advocacy. Agents competing on price and speed lose to machines.
07/13/2020 · 6 min read
Self-accountability for agency owners is a four-step diagnostic: name the specific result you don't want, trace it back through behavior to decision to belief, identify one measurable behavior change inside your control, then run it for 60 days without negotiating. External conditions are real but they aren't the lever.
06/26/2020 · 6 min read
Elite retirement and life planning is diagnostic, not transactional. Address decumulation risk (sequence of returns, longevity, healthcare), use life insurance as a planning tool not a standalone product, and serve clients across multi-decade life stages. Top 1% production follows.
06/24/2020 · 6 min read
Get time back by automating client communication sequences, lead nurture, and internal workflows, then giving staff clear authority over outcomes instead of routing every decision through you. Remote work rewards the agencies that built operational clarity and exposes the ones running on presence.
06/22/2020 · 6 min read
Brad Lea built Lightspeed VT and a billionaire network by treating sales as service and value creation as the real job. For agents: fix belief in the product and the close handles itself, build skill development as an ongoing function (not one-time onboarding), and answer who this business is for.
06/17/2020 · 6 min read
Persistent belief is behavior, not feeling. Write a specific measurable vision (premium target, close rate, retention), read it daily, manage inputs over outputs, and read results on a rolling 90-day window so one bad month is data, not a verdict. Carry conviction for your team.
06/15/2020 · 6 min read
Mike Watts built six companies and $50M in combined sales by aligning financial, personal, and spiritual goals into one integrated system. Specific income targets, calendared personal priorities, and a purpose bigger than the P&L produce better decisions under pressure and longer founder runway.
06/12/2020 · 7 min read
Agents who last 30-plus years are not more motivated on day one. They anchor their practice to a purpose durable enough to sustain them across market cycles, hard years, and industry disruption. Long-tenure books built on genuine relationships are also structurally more resistant to disruption than transactional books.
06/10/2020 · 6 min read
Bad management in insurance agencies looks like avoidance or micromanagement, never anything dramatic. The fix is five repeatable moves: hold the avoided conversation, write down expectations, run tighter meetings, push three decisions down, and stay consistent week after week.
06/05/2020 · 6 min read
Ben Barrientos and the By The Minute team accelerate agency growth by measuring activity in minutes, hitting new leads inside the first few minutes, building proactive retention touchpoints between renewals, and moving the owner from producer to leader. Acquisition, retention, and team structure have to fire together.
06/01/2020 · 6 min read
Martin Amador built his Denver Allstate agency on community presence (sponsorships, local events, knowing clients' kids) and motivational management that aligns each team member's daily work to an outcome they personally care about. Relationship-sourced clients stay longer, refer more, and pay less attention to price.
05/29/2020 · 6 min read
Brian Boffa's Consolidated Human Resources runs the payroll, benefits, compliance, and employment-law overhead through a PEO co-employment model so agency owners stop firefighting HR. For 10-50 employee agencies, this gives bigger-company benefits, real compliance coverage, and back the time you were burning on admin.
05/25/2020 · 8 min read
Every insurance agent needs to know six financial fundamentals: commission timing versus cash flow, the gap between revenue and profit, fixed vs variable cost structure, client acquisition cost against lifetime value, a 3-month reserve, and a real owner salary separated from distributions.
05/22/2020 · 8 min read
Insurance clients buy peace of mind, not policies. Marketing Director Olivia Schmitt's client experience framework runs on proactive communication, plain-language clarity at every stage, consistent brand touchpoints, and structured listening. Agencies that design the post-sale journey retain more and refer more.
05/18/2020 · 7 min read
Covid-19 cut U.S. miles driven by 40 to 60 percent overnight, exposing how slowly traditional auto pricing reacts and how powerfully real-time location data and telematics can. Agents who understand carrier telematics, usage-based programs, and local mobility shifts can price, target, and advise better than competitors stuck in historical averages.
05/15/2020 · 7 min read
Facebook works for insurance when you treat it like a social platform, not a billboard. Use granular audience targeting (life events, behaviors, specific industries), publish education-first content answering questions people actually ask, run retargeting on website visitors, and lean into video. Sean Matheis built Agency Alliance on exactly that approach.
05/11/2020 · 7 min read
Gregg Blanchard built a durable Allstate agency by importing real estate franchise discipline: pick a specialization based on real knowledge and network, say no to everything else, and mentor agents two to three years behind you to compound your own thinking.
05/08/2020 · 7 min read
Insurance and mortgage cross-sell when both pros warm-introduce shared clients at the right transaction moment, share market intel monthly, and orient around service instead of extraction. Every homeowner you insure has a mortgage. Every closing needs proof of hazard insurance.
05/04/2020 · 6 min read
Tom Paterson built his Allstate agency on community presence, not cold calls. He shows up at local events, gives referrals first, and lets insurance come up naturally. Lower acquisition cost, higher retention, and a book that survives rate spikes.